Liberal Arts Services

Fall 2003

HIS 355M • The United States, 1920-1941

Unique

Days

Time

Location

Instructor

36725

TTh

8:00 AM-9:30 AM

GAR 1

Pells

Course Description

This course will concentrate on American culture and social life between the wars. We will emphasize the following issues: the nature of prosperity in the 1920's; the problems of the middle class; the phenomenon of expatriation among artists and intellectuals; the onset of the depression and the response of the New Deal; radical movements and ideologies in the 1930's; the impact of the economic collapse on various social groups; the differences between the fiction of the 1920's and the 1930's; the coming of World War II.

Grading Policy

Mid-term exam (50%), Final Exam (50%).

Texts

Texts (subject to change):
Sinclair Lewis, BABBITT
F. Scott Fitzgerald, THE GREAT GATSBY
Ernest Hemingway, THE SUN ALSO RISES
Mary McCarthy, THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS
John Steinbeck, THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Malcolm Cowley, EXILE'S RETURN
Richard Wright, NATIVE SON

All architectural drawings are from the Alexander Architectural Archive at the University of Texas at Austin, sheets 6, 13, 14, and 17. The logo was inspired by a detail from the drawings. Images are either copyrighted by the University or used under fair use laws. Any unauthorized use or duplication is prohibited.